Faces of Erinoak
Shanahan's Story
With four children under the age of 9, the Shanahan household is a boisterous one. And, except for the wailing siren from the toy fire truck, mom Susan doesn't mind the noise. In fact, she has reason to be quite proud of it.
"When they're all talking at once, I just think, 'thank goodness you're speaking!'"
The Shanahan children, all of them, are veterans of the Halton-Peel Preschool Speech and Language Program at Erinoak. Susan has spent so much time at the children's treatment centre, "I'm a fixture there," she says laughing. "Erinoak has been such a big part of our lives for so long, my kids think everyone goes, that it's what you do when you're a kid."
First there was John, 9, who started speech therapy at age three for delayed articulation. Then came Mary, 7, who showed the same patterns of speech and also began therapy at age 3.
When Michael had few words by age 2, Susan knew he too, was a candidate for therapy. He would eventually be diagnosed with speech apraxia, a speech disorder in which children have difficulty putting sounds and syllables together in the correct order to form words. Before therapy, Michael would do a lot of pointing and grunting to communicate. Now age 5, he speaks almost like any other five-year-old, having made huge leaps in speech.
Then there's Martin. "I'm probably the first mom to request that an unborn baby be put on a waiting list for speech therapy," jokes Susan. It wasn't long after he was born, however, that Martin was on the waiting list. By 18 months - and showing signs of following in his siblings' footsteps - he was at Erinoak and making good progress.
"It's never been a chore for my kids," says Susan of the Erinoak speech and language therapy program. "The staff is so friendly and they make it so enjoyable, we have never minded going."
But John, Mary, Michael and Martin are not the only Shanahans receiving therapy. Through the early language program workshops, Susan has also excelled. Recognizing that children learn from the important people in their lives, Erinoak offers various programs for parents that provide information and coaching in simple techniques parents can use during regular daily routines. These techniques help families promote the modeling of sounds, use of words, and communication.
Most powerful, were the videotaping sessions, says Susan, who was taped playing with Martin. Watching the playback together with a speech language pathologist, she learned how to create opportunities for interaction with the youngster that encouraged him to use words.
"It was little things like reading a story but leaving out a word. Singing a song but singing it wrong. Giving him only a small amount of juice so he had an opportunity to ask for more. There was never criticism during the workshops. I was always made to feel so comfortable while learning such simple ways to promote my children's speech and language at home."
If the noise at the Shanahan house is any indication, the combination of formal and home therapy is working – which more than makes up for any siren on any toy fire truck.